Ohio becomes the first state to accept Bitcoin for tax payments

Businesses in Ohio will now be able to pay their taxes in bitcoin, making the state that is high in the middle principles and round on both ends the first in the nation to accept cryptocurrency officially.

The state will become the first in the United States and one of the first governments in the world to accept cryptocurrency. There will be provision to pay for twenty-three kinds of business taxes.

Companies who want to take part in the program only need to go to OhioCrypto.com and register to pay whatever taxes their corporate requires in crypto. It could be anything from cigarette sales taxes to employee withholding taxes.

According to Ohio Treasurer’s website,

“Cryptocurrencies cannot be transferred to third parties without user initiation, thereby practically eliminating fraud; Anyone can view all transactions on the blockchain network; Payments on the blockchain can be tracked on a second-by-second basis; a minimal fee is charged to confirm transactions on the blockchain network.”

This brains behind this innovative venture is the current Ohio state treasurer, Josh Mandel, who believes the bitcoin program is intended to be a signal of the state’s broader ambitions to remake itself in a more tech-friendly image.

Till now, there had been concerns that Bitcoin would not become a suitable means for conducting payments, instead, describing the cryptocurrency as a store of value. Defenders have described Bitcoin as “slow and costly.”

However, moves by the Ohio Treasurer’s office directly counter those criticisms. Through the use of the payment service BitPay, Ohio state now offers Bitcoin as a means to pay state taxes.

The payment option will not only be limited to Bitcoin, as the website states, “the Treasurer’s office looks forward to adding more cryptocurrencies in the future.”

Furthermore, the state is looking to gain a foothold as a blockchain technology magnet, with the Treasurer’s Office stating, “we are working to help make Ohio a national leader in blockchain technology.”

Adoption by Ohio serves as a pioneer of things to come. Use of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have the opportunity to make governments more secure, more transparent, and more efficient.

This move is the first of many to bring us into a world where this technology is leveraged to improve our day-to-day lives as citizens. Such an integration of high technology into the mainstream is bound to take time globally but will work wonders eventually.